Rajasthan Govt Drafts Business Friendly Land Acquisition Act
The Rajasthan government has drafted a new Land Acquisition Act in order to make the process of land acquisition by the government and businesses faster in the state. The new draft has replaced some of the old key measures that formed the part of the Land Acquisition Bill that was passed in 2013 by the previous government. The new draft has however adopted the law of 2013 as a model as land acquisition is a state subject and the act at the centre only acts as a model.
New land acquisition law draft
The draft of the new Land Acquisition Act has some new key points while replacing some of the old ones created by the previous central government. Some of the key measures being replaced are those that involve requiring consent from the landowner. Instead, the compensation for the land owners have been increased.
According to senior officials involved in drafting the new act, the new act will not be anti-farmers or anti-land owners. However, the new act aims at removing some of the processes that take a long time and delays the process of acquiring land. The higher compensation ensures a better deal for farmers and landowners while reducing the duration of compensation.
The draft also proposes to identify the urban and rural boundaries more clearly so that lands can be identified in a better way. Apart from this, there will be a ceiling on the quantum of land acquired by a project proponent in both urban and rural areas.
The draft has been sent to the chief minister’s office (CMO) for approval. The new draft if passed, is expected to attract both criticisms from farmers and landowners as well as praises by business people. Experts also believe that there may be minor amendments depending on the response from social sector, industry and other stakeholders.
Key features of the draft
The new law has removed the requirement of consent of 70 to 80 per cent of farmers and landowners for land acquisition. The required consent may be reduced to about 50 to 60 per cent. These relaxations will however apply to only core infrastructure projects such as roads, pipelines, bridges power lines.
The compensation for landowners and farmers will be increased from two to two-and-half of existing rates in urban areas and from four to four-and-half in rural areas.
An upper limit on the quantum of land being acquired by a project proponent in both urban and rural areas is proposed. It will be about 200 hectares in urban areas while about 1,000 hectares in rural areas.
The requirement to perform a Social Impact assessment (SIA) study will be removed. The industry has sought to limit the SIAs to large projects that involve more than 500 acres of land.
